I especially enjoyed taking the time to come up with the questions for the following interview, because I feel like I had to push much harder than usual to find what was sitting just beneath the surface of these photos.
The elephant portraits seem at first rather straight forward, but the more I spent looking at his images the clearer to me it became just how great his photos were—simple, yet breathtakingly accomplished and…just utter genius. Back in its beginning up until really quite recently, Photography was always kept consciously separate from other forms of Art; the argument was that the mechanism of photography did the artistic work of the creator, and therefore wasn’t as much a creative thing. While there are tons of good examples of photography proving this philosophy untrue, for me–especially in terms of photographic portraiture– Joachim Schmeisser is at the top of my list.

JOACHIM SCHMEISSER 35 years ago Joachim Schmeisser started his career as an advertising photographer. Beside the commercial photography he dedicates himself to themes of personal interest. Top priorities are people and socially relevant subjects. “I see photography as a mirror of my feelings and it should direct full attention at the subject’s essence. It is all about beauty, fragility, fugacity, and mindfulness, dignity and the soul, as well as the right of every individual to have a equal place on this planet.” His aim is to have a look behind the scenes and to bring the invisible to the surface. His pictures touch our hearts – the emotional language of the soul.The insightful animal portraits of the “orphan elephants”, which are being cared for by the “David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust”, have become a real affair personal matter for him. After initial exhibitions of the portraits in 2009, Joachim Schmeisser received prestigious international awards, including the much sought-after Hasselblad Master Award 2012.